Hoi Molly – it can help, but a teacher can only take you so far. I find that the further you progress with your education the more important your internal drive becomes (it also develops as you go along), meaning that you’re in charge of being successful and developing yourself as you see fit. This is definitely the case at University level, where it’s up to you to manage your studies and time, and in the end plays a big factor as to whether you take up a job involving science.
At earlier stages of education, like GCSEs I think that having a good science teacher definitely helps – you’re more likely to engage with the subject and enjoy it if your teacher is excited about it as well!
Whilst at school I got on well with all my teachers, but I think that stemmed from actually being interested in the subject and just wanting to ask my teachers about it, rather than actively seeking to build good relationships with them.
One of the main reasons that I decided to do chemistry at university was because my chemistry teacher was very enthusiastic and helpful, this made me more interested in the subject. However, I don’t think that it’s a major factor. Once you get to university, a lot of the work you do is individual and the lectures are very different to classes at school.
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